With the ITA National Team Indoors looming only a week away,
UCLA women’s tennis coach Stella Sampras Webster will use
this week’s matches against UC Irvine and Pepperdine to
sharpen her team’s skills. “We’re trying to keep
everyone fresh and keep them focused,” Sampras Webster said.
Despite being heavily favored in these next two matches, Sampras
Webster stressed the importance of staying sharp leading up to next
week’s National Team Indoors in Madison, Wis. “Our
focus is really just to get physically and mentally prepared going
into Madison,” Sampras Webster said. “We know
we’re going to get a lot of tough competition against teams
ranked in the top 20.” Though the Bruins have their sights
set on next week’s important tournament, they are still not
overlooking this week’s opponents. The team will host the
Anteaters and the Waves today and Saturday, respectively.
“Our big match this week is against Pepperdine,”
Sampras Webster said. “And UC Irvine is not bad. They will
challenge us in certain positions. Our focus is stay healthy and do
well against these teams.” The main area of concern for the
Bruins has been their doubles play, which has been a focal point in
this week’s practices. While UCLA’s top doubles team of
freshman Riza Zalameda and sophomore Daniela Bercek is set in
stone, the second and third teams have been more up in the air up
to this point. “We’ve worked a lot on our doubles
teams, trying to get them to play better and improve, “
Sampras Webster said. “Other than that, we’ve been
working on our footwork, getting quicker as a whole
team.”
INJURY UPDATE: Another goal for this week has been to rest up
some of the team’s injured players. “We’ve had a
few players a little beat-up that we are still trying to get
healthy,” Sampras Webster said. Junior Laura Gordon, who did
not compete last week against Loyola Marymount, has been suffering
from tendonitis in her right wrist. “She hasn’t been
practicing much,” Sampras Webster said. “She’ll
hopefully play some doubles (today) and also be out there on
Saturday.” Senior Sarah Gregg also suffered from a torn
ligament in her right wrist earlier in the year, but she has shown
great improvement. “She’s doing pretty well in
practice,” Sampras Webster said of Gregg. “We’re
hoping that she’ll be fine competing for us. It’s
something she’s going to have to play through. She’s
always going to have a little pain.”
DROP SHOTS: UC Irvine currently holds a 1-2 record and is ranked
No. 64. … Pepperdine comes in at 2-0 and is ranked No. 37. …
Last week, the Waves narrowly escaped an upset loss to the
Anteaters, defeating UC Irvine 4-3 at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis
Center in Malibu.